REFUGE PATROL AGENTS WITH HANDS FULL ON FOURTH OF JULY WEEKEND 

By Sr. Agent Gene Viator

            On July 4, 2002, Sr. Agents Gene Viator and Layne Picard started the morning with a call from the Iberia Parish Sheriff’s Office about a boater that was overdue since July 3, 2002.  Agents started their search along with the Sheriff’s Office, a U.S. Coastguard helicopter and a plane at around 9 a.m.  At approximately 12 noon, the subject was found on the East side of West Cote Blanch Bay.  He was found O.K., but tired. The subject’s boat had broken down next to a small well head.

Sr. Agents Viator & Picard next received a call about four subjects stuck on a mud flat in Lake Blanc located on Marsh Island at 8:30 p.m.  The water was too low for the agents to rescue the subjects, so they had to wait for the tide to come up, which was about 4:30 a.m. on July 5. Sr. Agents Viator and Picard had to go to Marsh Island to get a small aluminum flat and return to the Lake Blanc area so they could pull the boat off.  All the subjects were ok, just a little embarrassed.

On July 5, 2002, at 1p.m agents received a call to respond to the Oaks Canal because an 85-year-old man had fallen and injured his hip.  Agents left Marsh Island and went to the Oaks Canal, which is a very silted canal, and locate the camp where Sr. Agents Viator and Picard found the man laying on the floor.  Sr. Agent Viator, using his first responder training, checked the man’s vital signs, while Sr. Agent Picard and deputies went to the boat launch to pick up the ambulance personnel to bring to the location. When the ambulance personnel arrived at the camp, Sr. Agent Viator assisted them while Sr. Agent Picard and the I.P.S.O personnel located an area along the Intracoastal Waterway for an air-med chopper to land.  The agents and medical personnel loaded the man into their boat and brought him to the area on the Intracoastal Waterway for the helicopter to land.  The agents and medical personnel loaded the man onto the helicopter and then left the area, which by this time was approximately 7:30 p.m. 

At 8:30 p.m., the agents received another call that a boat was broken down somewhere just outside Southwest Pass.  Sr. Agents Viator & Picard headed toward Southwest Pass into the Gulf of Mexico.  Being unable to locate the boat, the agents contacted Iberia and Vermilion Water Patrol deputies for assistance because of fowl weather.  At approximately 2 a.m. on July 6, the Vermilion Water Patrol located the vessel and towed it back in.        On July 6, at approximately 10 a.m., Sr. Agents Viator and Picard received a call from dispatch to respond to the Gulf of Mexico because a jack-up barge had exploded and people were in the water.  The agents responded to the area, which is approximately four to six miles south of Southwest Pass.  They found that a gas pipeline had exploded and there was water spraying approximately 10 to 20 feet high and a flame of approximately 100 feet was coming out of the water.  Fortunately, no one was injured or in the water. The gas line was shut off and the fire was out approximately three hours later.  These agents received about eight to ten hours of sleep from 7 a.m. on July 4, 2002, to 6:30 p.m. on July 6, 2002.  Yes, it was a busy holiday.